Raffle

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT RAFFLE - PAGE 3

A Republican candidate for Congress in northwestern Illinois is raising campaign money by raffling off guns. Dr. Michael Curtiss of Mt. Carroll said Wednesday that he has sold about 1,500 raffle tickets. He expects to double that number by the time the guns are given away the third week in January. Being raffled are an SLR-95 rifle and a .45-caliber handgun. Curtiss said the raffle also includes lessons on how to fire the weapons and a book about guns and crime. A raffle ticket costs $5, according to his Web site -- www.loveofcountry.

The newly formed Positive Impact Church advertised a raffle, and 2,000 people signed up. Apparently they didn't read the fine print. They had to attend Sunday services to be eligible to win the prize of $1,000, but only about 30 showed up. "Where are all the people?" asked minister George Lane after an hour of religious songs and a humor-filled sermon in a school cafeteria. "It's kind of embarrassing." Lane said he was hoping to get about $1,000 in contributions. He got about $100.

Warren Rhinds, 63, who drove the Lincoln-Way High School band bus when his children attended the high school, said he was stunned to learn Friday that he held the grand-prize-winning ticket in the Lincoln-Way Foundation Dream House Raffle. "I really am overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it. This is a good thing for the kids and for the school. That's why we buy a ticket each time," said Rhinds, who learned of winning $121,500 by phone Friday. The original first prize in the third Dream House raffle was to be a student-built house.

The grand-prize winner in the Lincoln-Way High School Foundation Dream House raffle Friday won't get a new home, but the winnings could add up to a substantial down payment. Ticket sales totaled 2,447 "and still counting," Lincoln-Way Community Relations Director Stacy Holland said Thursday. But they fell short of the 3,000 needed to raffle off the student-built home in the Wellington subdivision of New Lenox. The raffle will be a 50-50 split, with the grand-prize winner receiving 50 percent of the $100-a-ticket pot and the Lincoln-Way Foundation keeping 50 percent.

A west suburban Westchester couple were accused of fraud Thursday in a civil lawsuit alleging that they misused funds collected for a charity. Atty. Gen. Roland Burris` office sued Joseph P. Monahan II and Maria Monahan, who last year sold $10 tickets for an unidentified $1 million "dream home" in Hinsdale. The Monahans had said that they planned to sell the home to the Maryville City of Youth in Des Plaines for $500,000. But they suspended the raffle last December after questions about the home's actual value, Burris said.

The Founder's Day Committee has opted to raffle off a new car to help pay an $8,500 debt left from the summer festival. Tickets will go on sale at the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Chamber of Commerce, 215 S. Main St. Tickets will cost $25 apiece for the chance to win a 1996 Chrysler LeBaron convertible or Plymouth Voyager van from Crystal Lake Chrysler Plymouth. The chamber will sell 1,000 tickets. The car raffle is scheduled for noon Dec. 9 at Midwest Bank, 2045 E. Algonquin Rd., Algonquin.

Little Friends Inc. of Naperville raised more than $26,000 in raffle tickets sold in nine days to adults and children who wanted to own a unique playhouse from among those on display at Fox Valley Center. "For [this being] the first year of an event, we were really pleased," said Tammy Niemeyer, a spokeswoman for the agency, which provides services to children and adults with disabilities. The funds will go to support operating expenses and programs. The homes that seemed to be most popular, in terms of tickets purchased for the seven separate drawings, were a pirate ship, log cabin and pink Victorian mansion.

A Villa Park woman pleaded guilty Friday to running a phony raffle that she claimed would benefit veterans. Anne M. Pellegrini, 41, admitted to one count each of conspiracy and forgery and was sentenced to 180 days in the DuPage County Jail, 2 years of probation, 150 hours of community service for a veteran's organization and restitution of $511. Her co-defendant, Donald L. McCarver, 42, who shared her Villa Park home, is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 31. He is charged with conspiracy and forgery in connection with the raffle, obstruction of justice for allegedly giving police a false name and address, and possession of a controlled substance.

A cow doing what a cow does naturally could earn someone $2,500 during the Crystal Lake Rotary Club's fourth annual Cow Drop Raffle set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are on sale at $10 each and limited to 1,085 participants. In addition to the $2,500 first prize, two other cows will pick second- and third-place winners of $1,500 and $500 respectively, according to raffle chairman Jack McIntyre. McIntyre said the three cows will be turned loose in Lippold Park on a grid of randomly numbered squares measuring 3 feet on each side.

The Beanie Baby fad has turned into a $1,555 profit for Richmond's historic Memorial Hall. Carolyn and Tom Janus, owners of Skoopers gift and collectible shop, recently held a raffle. The grand prize was a set of 75 Beanie Babies, including 36 of the retired plush toys, won by Julie Dodd of Beach Park. All proceeds from the raffle were donated to the Village of Richmond, earmarked for the renovation of Memorial Hall. "It's a village landmark. The community is making an effort to improve the building and we think it's a worthwhile cause," Tom Janus said.